Valentine is desperate to make amends

By RICHARD WILLIAMS

31 December 2007

RYAN VALENTINE revealed he wanted to atone for a previous penalty miss this season by taking Wrexham's spot-kick in Saturday's 1-0 defeat against Stockport County at The Racecourse on Saturday.

But the versatile full-back saw his penalty saved by County keeper Conrad Logan.

And Valentine said he had no hesitation in taking responsibility despite being denied against Wycombe in November.

"I did think it was a penalty. I thought it caught him on the top of the arm and the referee gave a penalty," said Valentine. "I missed one earlier in the season when we drew 0-0 against Wycombe and I thought it was a chance to put things right.

"I was happy to take it. I wanted to make amends for the last penalty miss.

"Unfortunately for myself and the team, fans and manager, it didn't go in and I am disappointed about it.

"I am not sure if I am still on penalties, it depends how quickly another one comes around. We will have to see what happens."

Valentine was deployed in a central midfield role for the first time since joining his hometown club from Darlington in the summer of 2006 and the 25-yard-old said he was happy with the change.

"The manager did not pull me aside to say I was playing there the day before the game but once I found out I was playing centre midfield I was quite looking forward to it," said Valentine.

"I played there at Darlington for two or three games and I quite enjoyed it, but I have playedthe majority of my games as full-back.

"I thought over the 90 minutes I did okay. Obviously I missed a penalty which I am disappointed with, and we went on to lose 1-0, but looking at the bigger picture I thought I did okay. We will see what happens next game."

And manager Brian Little was pleased with Valentine's performance, saying: "I asked Ryan to do a job and I thought he played really well.

"Then he stepped up and missed a penalty which has spoiled his day.

"But his performance was good. He settled us down in the middle of the park. He is a bit of a calm character, he has been around a bit and knows the game, and just sticking him in there made a difference to us."

Meanwhile, Chris Llewellyn, booked in the first half against County, has now received five yellow cards and has received an automatic one match ban.

Llewellyn misses the trip to Grimsby on January 12.